Clair de Luna
by Blinded Moon
Summary: An unexpected encounter at the Yule Ball. Can Theodore overcome his prejudices? Can Luna open her heart to another?


**Clair de Luna**

**Dedicated to Kristin**

Theodore's face had to be the only one in the crowd that wasn't painted with bliss and joy. Around him, the peals of laughter sounded louder than the band and the spirit of the night was practically palpable. But something was missing for him at the Yule Ball. Certainly, he'd fared better than whomever was with Millicent Bullstrode, but Daphne Greengrass was a little too clumsy and a little too flirtatious to make for a good date. The couple of glasses of Pansy's firewhisky she'd drank beforehand made her focus a little too much on Blaise Zabini and the Durmstrang pigs than on Theodore or dancing. She left for a moment to talk to one and Theodore was sure she wouldn't return. He figured he'd get some air.

He did not, though, figure upon the rosebushes right outside writhing with twisted spirit. Grimicing, Theodore began to walk down the path until he turned a corner and noticed a lovely circular balcony-type area. Over the ancient stone banister was a beautiful view of the lake glowing with the moon's reflection, making the cool black waters as bright as if it were day. He was so caught up with the lake that he didn't notice the girl behind him, sitting on the banister with her back against the castle's stone wall.

"Good evening, Theodore," she sang, making him whirl around in shock. At first, he didn't recognize her. Her head was hung low so that it didn't catch the moon's rays and her golden blond locks cascaded down the side of her face. She was dressed in what seemed to be a frilly turquoise dress that complemented her slim frame. He gasped with shock noticing that it was none other than Looney Lovegood.

"Er, hi Luna" Theodore replied awkwardly. "How do you know my name?"

"Well you know mine, don't you?" she asked quizzically.

"Yeah but you're a little more…well…"

"Famous?"

"Sure."

Luna laughed for a moment, throwing her hair back and exposing her face to the moon. It was a strangely high-pitched laugh, as if full of triumph. Once she simmered down, she turned her face back to him. "So what girl in the Great Hall is suddenly dateless?"

"Nobody. I mean…it's not important. What about you? Aren't you just a third year? Who brought you?" Theodore tried to keep as much surprise out of the last question of his. He thought he succeeded, but he noticed her face fall just a little bit. She looked down, and then back at him.

"Kenneth Findley, a fifth year. He thought it would be funny to take me. 'Looney Lovegood' he called me. But…well the joke's on him. I was just about the sixth girl he asked so…well it's not like he's dancing with anyone now either."

A Slytherin would have laughed at her pathetic story and then walked away. A Ravenclaw would ask why she didn't recognize the joke beforehand. A Gryffindor would've consoled her and tried to figure out a way to get revenge. But Theodore did none of the above. He started at the girl and, in noticing the beauty in her vulnerability, realized something.

"You really liked him, didn't you?"

Luna gasped and stared at him, bewildered. He'd never seen her surprised before. "What are you talking about?"

"It's just that you look…" Theodore said before pausing. There were quite a few adjectives that fit here, but he needed to focus on the one that mattered. "Normal. You look like any other girl at the ball." Though they may have seemed the truth in context, the words couldn't be more of a lie. She was absolutely ravishing, her beautiful hair bright and free, her glossy blue eyes enhanced by the moon's light. She was far from normal, nothing like any other girl back in the Great Hall.

Luna turned her head back to the moon before it fell limply at her side. Her eyes were watery. Theodore never thought he'd seen her like this, and he realized that he may have and may be the only one ever to do so. "He said…he said he loved me. I wanted so badly for him to think…to think that I wasn't Looney at all, that I could be both beautiful and typical. But he didn't give me a second look. After parading me around for his friends to laugh at for ten minutes, he left me by the door." Here, she paused and wiped her eyes. Theodore was dumbstruck by the pain she was feeling, and could do nothing but stand still. She looked up at him and he felt himself caught in the moonlit blue. "But what does it matter!" she yelled. "I'm here, and I have the moon! And I have the music!"

"Music?" Theodore asked. But no sooner had he done so than he realized that a faint trace of the ball's music had snuck out the doors and made its way around the corner to their little spot. He heard a faster, dance song end and a new one begin. It was a soft and lovely classical piano tune that felt eerily familiar to him.

"Oh!" said Luna, jumping up from the banister, apparently in reaction to the tune. "Can you hear it? It's Clair de Lune, an old Muggle song. My mother used to hum it to me when I was a baby. She called it Clair de Luna…"

Theodore didn't know why he did it, but his heart was filled with such sudden purpose, and he reached his hand out to the girl. "Would you like to dance?"

She smiled, as if expecting it from the moment he'd entered her world. "I'd love to."

He wasn't nervous at all, and he'd never felt anything as right as when he put his left on her waist and felt her fingers intertwine with his right. Their feet moved slowly across the stone balcony and their dance changed slowly until he was slowly holding her in his arms, rocking back and forth. Her head rested upon his shoulder and her eyes were closed.

The two remained in passionate embrace for a good moment or two, not even realizing the song had ended. Each was afraid that if they let go, the other would either sink into the stone or float away to the moon. But when they finally knew it was time, the two pairs of feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

Theodore felt his own eyes begin to water. "It…it would never work out."

Strangely, Luna smiled. "I know. But at least we'll have each other within our hearts."

Struck by another bout of sudden inspiration, Theodore ripped off two buttons from the pockets of his dress robes. He pulled out his wand and muttered a spell. They were transfigured into an odd pair of radish earrings. Removing her plain studs, he whispered, "Think of me when you wear these."

Her face lit up as if she'd never received a greater gift. She reached down and rolled up his sleeve. "And think of me whenever you look at this wrist and see it blank. Never let any mark taint it."

He looked her in the eye. "I won't. I promise."

She smiled. The vulnerability was completely gone from her eyes as she began to make her way back into the castle. Looking back at him for just a moment, she flashed a smile that would haunt him for years, and then turned the corner and disappeared from sight.


End file.
